VANCOUVER, BC: Median income for workers in Seattle dwarfs the median income for workers in Vancouver, underscoring a general prosperity gap between British Columbia and its regional neighbours, finds a new study released today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan, Canadian public policy think-tank.
“At a time when affordability is top of mind, workers in B.C. make considerably less money than their counterparts in other jurisdictions,” said Ben Eisen, senior fellow at the Fraser Institute and co-author of Measuring British Columbia’s Prosperity Gap at the Metropolitan Level.
The study—which compared the median employment income of 59 large urban areas in B.C., Alberta, Washington, Alaska, California, Oregon, Montana and Idaho—found that Vancouver ranks 48th with a median income of $37,300, significantly lower than Seattle ($61,056), which ranks 3rd, and well below the average median income of the 59 urban areas ($43,810).
Beyond Vancouver, the remaining six urban areas in B.C. also rank low beginning with Victoria (42nd at $37,890) followed by Kamloops (52nd $36,060), Chilliwack (54th at $33,650), Kelowna (55th at $33,540), Abbotsford-Mission (56th at $33,070) and Nanaimo (57th at $32,770).
“Many British Columbians would likely be surprised to learn that workers in next-door Washington make substantially more than they do,” Eisen said.
“With its relatively low median employment income, Vancouver is an outlier among big cities in the western part of Canada and the United States,” Eisen said.
Home Breaking News Median income in Vancouver nearly $24,000 less than in Seattle—B.C. cities rank...
